


In Silence

by sincin49



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s02e18 Tempus Fugit, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 21:17:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3825370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincin49/pseuds/sincin49
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Absolute silence leads to sadness. It is the image of death.<br/>Jean-Jacques Rousseau</p>
<p>The silence is more frightening than anything they had faced together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Silence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gifted to my muses](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Gifted+to+my+muses), [TM](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=TM), [NB](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=NB), [and the kind](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=and+the+kind), [generous](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=generous), [Creeping Muse](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Creeping+Muse).



The silence is more frightening than anything they had faced together.

She cannot erase the images of Katrina or Henry’s deaths from her own mind, much less fully understand the torment he must feel. She aches to go to him and hold him, tightly or otherwise. Reach her hand out to touch his shoulder. Offer solidarity in his time of need. Offer friendship to anchor him.

They’ve been battered, bruised, beaten down so many times. Yet, they remain survivors, as he once enthusiastically declared. Once again they have conquered overwhelming challenges and now both struggle to survive the worst moments not only of their partnership, of their bond, but of their own lives.

She realizes he has spoken only once since Katrina vanished in a great gorge of red dust motes, just as Henry vanished in a swirling sea of green dust, both scattered into thin air, as if neither had ever existed. She remembers his shock and disbelief as he watched Katrina dissolve into ash. Scarce few sounds then, retched from somewhere deep within.

She walks softly to his side and gently states what she believes in her heart is the truth…that he had no choice. When he rises up, roughly slashes away his tears, his swift, brutal response stings. “ _Yes I did. We all did.”_ As he turns away, she knows his words hold another truth. Whatever the consequences, each one had a choice.

It hits her hard to realize that to him, the heartrending losses of both son and wife were separated by only a few minutes. The reversal of the Traveler’s Spell made that circumstance both possible and horrible.

Her journey back in time to save him, to save their mission, to save the world, lasted much longer and was all the more demanding because he didn’t know her then. Without hesitation, she had put her heart, mind and soul to work to gain his trust, his belief in what they meant to each other in the here and now. When the trust finally took hold, he was, as always, focused in his duty to make things right. Yet, at such a heavy cost to them both, that she too is rendered silent. 

There seems to be an impenetrable wall created by the shared knowledge of their actions. When the first glimmer of sunrise illuminates his face, he is still standing, alone and unmoving. Frozen in golden light. His ever active hand stilled in a mudra of its own making. She aches once again to close the gap and touch him, instinctively holding back until the moment he may be ready, unsure that moment will arrive any time soon. If ever.

_Movement._

She is startled as he slowly steps into the morning light and bends down to pick up an object. There is a whisper of a sound, the soft scuff of his boots on the barren wood floor.  She is stunned to see the object is _the book_ …the Grand Grimoire. Despite his grief, he somehow remembers to secure the thing which caused them both so much harm, so much pain. And with a soundless shudder, he circles back to where she has remained, watching him in mute deference.

He bows his head slightly, acknowledging her presence, and places the book on the table. If he wishes to speak, his voice is stilled by the noisy and unexpected arrival of Jenny and Frank. Overwhelmed by declarations of regained souls, remembrances of Grace, and renewed missions…he remains rigid, a world apart, quietly watching the exchange of hugs and smiles. Only Jenny asks the unanswerable question: Katrina? 

No words.

There is a mere shake of his head, red rimmed blue eyes filled with unshed tears, as if in hushed benediction for the woman who he once loved and who shattered the world he believed could be reclaimed.

As the others depart, Abbie glances back only to see him once again turn away from her, staring into the light.

The silence remains frightening. With one more step he might enter a realm of all-consuming despair and never return to her. She knows without a doubt what she chooses to utter next will mean everything or nothing.

This time she reaches across the chasm with words she’s confident will wake him from the nightmare. _“Are you ready, Captain?”_  
 

He turns back, with the briefest of smiles and a familiar questing gaze.

He breaks his silence. 

If hope makes a sound, it is, for her, only this: _“Ready, Leftenant.”_

  

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> While watching Tempus Fugit for the nth time, and only after I could breathe a little easier once Season 3 was assured, I realized Ichabod doesn't say another word after his declaration of "Yes I did. We all did." until the last line of the finale. Yet the scene is filled with so much emotion, I thought I heard his “voice” the entire time, which is a tribute to both TM and NB. At the April 2015 Wizard World conference, TM also declared "all hail Beharie" for the powerful challenge Abbie gives to Ichabod in the final scene. I couldn't agree more! 
> 
> A very BIG thank you to the ever patient and gifted, Creeping Muse. Without her beta and recommendations, I might never have mustered enough courage to post! Thank you to anyone who reads my first foray onto AO3. I appreciate your patience as well. 
> 
> No one who writes fan fiction owns Sleepy Hollow; we write out of love for the series, the characters and actors who play their roles so brilliantly. Sleepy Hollow inspires some of the most engaging fan fiction on the web!


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